Monday, January 08, 2007

Florida-Ohio State Live-Comment

At this pace, I am not going to make it through this. Seriously. I open the Comments to you all. Good gracious. -- D.S.

Update after 1st Quarter: OK, that was the best quarter I have ever seen Florida play. It was, dare I say it, perfectly executed (particularly on offense, where through the season, the play-calling has been iffy, at best). Here's the flip side: There is NO way that Florida can sustain this pace, and Ohio State is STILL within a score. Again: Good gracious. -- D.S.

Update at Halftime: OK, so I was sort of wrong. Florida nearly matched their first quarter in the second. The offense continued to push the pedal down. The defense has been playing out of their mind. I wonder what Ohio State is thinking in the locker room: Shell-shock? Motivation? I simply remain shocked that Florida has hung 34 on Ohio State and limited OSU to less than 100 yards of offense. But there is so much time left. Almost too much time left. I repeat: Good gracious. -- D.S.

Update after 3rd Quarter: Well, a 0-0 quarter wasn't particularly entertaining, but it puts the Gators 15 minutes closer to a national title. And it reaffirms that the story of the game isn't the 34 that Florida hung on OSU in the 1st half, but the shut-down play of the Gators' D, which has effectively held Ohio State to one offensive TD. One quarter away. Cripes. I can barely stand it. Why does 20 points seem like... well, still not enough? -- D.S.

FINAL: Florida 41, Ohio State 14. YYYYYEEEEEESSSSS!!! What a complete ass-kicking. What an utterly dominating performance, which should eliminate any doubt about which team is No. 1, though I'm quite sure that Ohio State fans -- gracious losers that they are -- will find reasons to explain this one away. Explain away being held to under 100 yards of total offense. What an absolutely awesome game out of Florida. Whew!

In the MTV show Two-a-Days, the team plays Tebow in his senior year in high school. They keep talking about the great QB from the other team but never say his name. In the actual game footage you see Tebow make some great plays and the announcer said his name and I flipped out. I watched them after the show had ended and Tebow is now famous and up until that footage I had no idea he could throw the ball.

Wow, so far my prediction on Leak was way off. Can he keep this up for four quarters?

To be fair, his line is giving him all sorts of time, his receivers are getting open, and the opposing secondary is looking rus-ty. But wow!

Pac-10 refs are solidifying their legacy of suckitude this game, BTW. Who decided that the conference with the biggest refereeing scandal (Oklahoma-Oregon, was it?) of the year would ref the NC game, anyway?

Don't get to watch as much sports as I used to and haven't seen Florida play all year, but they are looking good.

And Kevin, these are the same officials that missed a hold on OSU right where Ginn was breaking the opening kickoff and didn't call the Florida guy diving at Smith's knees on the first sack. So, they're spreading the wealth at least. And that roughing the passer was a little weak.

How did this team lose to Auburn??? seriously, I give up trying to figure out who would beat who. I think the whole parity thing is out of control. If you put Florida, LSU, Michigan, USC, Ohio St, Boise, Louisville and others in a tournament you'd get a different champion every time. Florida looks unbelievable and they haven't shown anything all year that would have convinced me they could dominate like this. But they are so I give up....BTW, this post is moot if OSU recovers for the W

21-14 now the Bucks need to nut up on defense. Whoever mentioned the Pac-10 refs that was the first thing that I thought about. How could they have the league's official that was responsible for the biggest controversy of the year

If this shootout continues, with a close finish, it will be labeled an instant classic, where as the WestVirginia Louisville game was labeled as horrible because it had too much offense and no defense.

I know this argument isn't going to fly with a lot of people, but I think the "Brad Banks Rule" has been very evident here tonight so far.

For those that don't know, the "Brad Banks Rule" is about so much time between the team's last game and the bowl game. It comes from 2002 when Iowa had a 40+ day break between their last regular season game and the Orange Bowl vs. USC. Iowa got destroyed in that game.

I think the same thing is happening to OSU right now since it's been 51 days since they beat Michigan. One eerily similar event: Iowa ran the opening kickoff back for a TD just like OSU did.

Can someone please answer me on why the referees did not measure Chris Wells' 4th down run? It looked pretty close to me. These refs are pretty bad tonight at spotting the ball for both teams. Ohio State needs to stop giving Florida good field position!

How many more possessions does tOSU get the rest of the game 5 maybe 6? They need to score here if they are going to have any shot of coming back and T. Smith doesn't pull the biggest choke job ever by a Heisman winner.

Vinnie Testerverde and Jason White were the ones I am thinking of. Nebraska was not favored or expected to come close to beating Miami that year. Testeverde and White were leading high powered offenses that year that were considered some of the best ever.

wow I thought OSU was supposed to be good. What did I say earlier today? The x factor would be the possibility of an injury. Do you think it is coincidence that the buckeyes have played like crap pretty much since the opening kickoff.

I really wish that ESPN had been running an "Is this 2006 OSU team better than any other college football team in history?" series just like last year. I would love to see the stunned 2005 USC team playing the stunned 2006 OSU team.

Dan as one of the naysayers on your prediction of UF I stand corrected. I cannot believe that this is the same tOSU team I guess 51 days off is a little to long. What does the Big 10 do now? Do they finish their regular season later so this does not happen again?

Wow, who knew that the last game of the bowl season would be a repeat of the opening game. TCU held NIU (and the nation's leading rusher) to a total of 60 yards of offense (and 29 rushing yards) but allowed a special teams TD in the opener. And now UF absolutely DOMINATED every aspect of this game after the opening kickoff. Poetically wrapped up, and I don't even like the Gators.

HAHAHAHA! Everybody who's been calling Dan a homer for the last 4 months, and particularly all you Big 10 supporters who were saying ridiculous things last week like, "The SEC isn't that tough" must really feel vindicated. Eat it.

Again, this game..like all the others, is not an indicator of conference strength. I think Ohio State would have gone through the SEC with the same record as Florida.

The 51 day layoff excuse better not be used too much. Sure, I'm sure it had an effect. But Ohio State did everything wrong in the first half, Florida did everything right. And it was the PLAYCALLING -- not the players necessarily -- that was the difference. I mentioned this before...but did OSU give Florida TOO MUCH credit?? Their defensive scheme was so uptight. They barely tried to rush Leak...which is what his main weakness is. That makes no sense and falls on the coaches.

Ironic though...OSU was so worried about the Florida DE's speed that they apparently didn't consider their strength.Speed was non-existent in this game. Florida's front 4 just manhandled OSU's line.

After all the bullshit Chris Leak had to endure from Gator 'fans', he'll relish this win. He's earned it.

Troy Smith -- far, far better player than his stats indicate. ALl season, he's given his O-Line credit for his success. I, for one, hope he gives them the blame they deserve for his lack of success tonight.

(BTW, this won't hurt his draft stock. He hasn't made bad throws or decisions. He hasn't had the time to do that)

OSU lost because they had 51 days off and because Ted Ginn got hurt. Ginn is the focal point of that offense and without him they had no deep threat. Did anyone else notice that Gonzalez was about the only person Smith was throwing to? He didn't have Ginn and that was critical....that and the 51 freaking days between game. The Big Ten needs to get their heads out of their asses and not end their games so soon.

I don't mean to come across as a sore winner. But you have to recognize the level of pre-game noise from OSU fans - and so many many people in the media - so freaking sure that OSU would roll over Florida.

Can somebody please tell me what game tOSU's coach staff was watching? All I saw was three and four man rushes, zone coverage, and ignoring the middle of the field and the flats. I think at some point even Florida fans might have been begging tOSU to change it up, just to make things interesting. I almost feel like the average college football fan could have called this one better. It was pa-the-tic.

maybe the layoff had something to do with the 1st quarter, but... jesus, it didnt get any better from there. and ted ginn? well, i just dont think you can call yourself worthy if one player goes down and it results in a 4-TD ass-whooping.

I think it was the playcalling on UF's part--brilliant--and lack of penetration by OSU's D-line.

Oh, and UF's ridiculous defense. Hurray. And now I sleep.. stupid class tomorrow....

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.